gift guide: BFF edition

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I love shopping for my BFF! Well, really I love shopping for all of my friends. They're easy because they don't ask for anything and there's nothing they really need, so I can just get them fun stuff I know they'll love. The key to shopping for your BFF is to give her something that makes her feel special, but that she probably wouldn't buy for herself. Like these luxurious Hanky Panky boyshorts (the best boyshorts in the history of boyshorts)... they're awesome, but I have a hard time spending $30 a pop on underwear. Or the Capri Blue candle from Anthro... the best candle in the history of candles (noticing a theme here?) but again, I have a hard time spending $30 on a candle. Okay, maybe I'm just cheap. All I know is that any of these would make a great gift for the gal who knows all your dirty secrets and loves you anyway.

Stay tuned for the final gift guide next week... gifts for (almost) anyone!

{nursery progress} the big reveal!

Now that Emma is finally here, I can show you her finished nursery! The expression "labor of love" has a whole new meaning for me now, but we did put a lot of hard work and care into getting her nursery just right. If you remember back to my initial post about the nursery, this is the design plan I started with:

And here's what the room looked like before:

Starting with a firm budget of $1500, we set out to try to create a sweet, DIY inspired, eco-friendly nursery...

Here's the breakdown of what we DIY'd:

DIY'd:

As I mentioned before, we set a firm $1500 budget for the nursery - and while my husband had serious doubts about my ability to stick to that budget - I'm very proud to report that I came in UNDER BUDGET at $1302.24. The biggest expenses in the room were the Naturepedic organic crib mattress ($259), the Ikea Hemnes dresser ($199), the DaVinci Rivington crib (on sale for $191.99), the Elfa stacking drawers for the closet ($99), and the Naturepedic organic changing pad ($89.10). Together, those purchases made up almost 2/3 of our whole budget. We could have cut corners a bit by not going organic for the mattress and changing pad, but raising Emma in an eco-conscious way is very important to us, so we were willing to invest a little more for those things.

Here are close-ups of most of the things I DIY'd:

Bird mobile

Paper circle mobile

Golden Slumbers print

Murder in the City print

Monogrammed throw pillow

Personalized baby quilt

Bunting

Gum Drop ottoman

I hope you like it!  Well, really I just hope Emma likes it. :-) It was a lot of hard work, but we couldn't be happier with the final result. Leave me a comment if you have any questions about resources or any of the DIY projects!

make this look: farmers market tunic

  1. original outfit: Anthropologie
  2. red plaid shirting: Fabric.com
  3. ruffle tunic: Simplicity 2448, View D

Anthropologie calls this look "At the Ballpark", but to me it seems more suited for strolling through Portland's amazing downtown farmers market.  To re-create the look, you'll need Simplicity's 2448 pattern (view D is the ruffle tunic) and a couple yards of plaid shirting.  Purchase additional yardage if you want to add a matching belt to the pattern, like in the original version.  Pair the tunic with faded cropped jeans, a layered necklace, and sandals to complete the look.

a scarf made for Michigan winters

Winters are no picnic here in Portland, but they're nothing compared to what I dealt with for the 5 years I lived in Michigan.  There's nothing quite like the feeling of single digit temperatures to make you want to stay inside by a warm fire until May.  But, when you have to go outside, braving the cold often means sacrificing style for warmth.  That's why, when I saw this amazing chunky braided scarf at Anthropologie I knew I had to replicate it for my best friend, Lindsey - whose love of Michigan winters is borderline crazy.  I don't have a picture of the original Anthro version, but my version was made by knitting 3 long, skinny scarves (approximately 30 sitches across of stockinette stitch) and then braiding them together.  I hand-sewed the scarves together in the back where they crossed to make it more stable, then attached tassels at both ends using all 3 yarn colors.

Sadly the only pictures I have are the ones I took with my old Blackberry (so, sorry about the crappy image quality!):

Scarf close-up

Full view

me wearing the finished scarf